Compensation for DC balancing of liquid crystal displays

ABSTRACT

In a reflective mode FLC application, a ¼-wave plate compensating FLC is used in series with a ¼-wave imaging FLC to compensate for the effects of DC balancing. Alternatively, the compensating wave plate could be any odd ¼-wave multiple, such as 3λ/4, 5λ/4, etc. The FLCs are driven in synchronization between on and off states with the total effective retardation for each FLC being either none or one-half wavelength in a double pass.

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/034,447 filed Dec. 27, 1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The invention relates to DC balancing of ferroelectric and/or bipolar liquid crystal displays, particularly when used in reflective mode.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] DC balance is required of all liquid crystal displays. For twisted nematic (TN) materials, this is simply done by driving the individual cell with an AC waveform. This approach works well for TN materials because the molecules do not change physical state appreciably when the AC waveform changes electrical polarity. However, it does not work well with binary materials, such as ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) materials. When the polarity changes in FLC materials, the individual cell molecules change state, for instance, from on to off, turning off the cell. Thus, the individual cell must be turned off for approximately one-half of the time. This greatly reduces overall efficiency and brightness of any display built using FLCs.

[0006] One approach to solving this problem for transmissive mode FLCs is to include an additional ½-wave plate compensating FLC in the system. The primary imaging FLC is a ½-wave plate and is placed in series with the additional ½-wave plate, which is a single cell. The compensating FLC is switched in synchronism with the imaging FLC so that the light polarization orientation is rotated 90 degrees by the compensating FLC prior to reaching the imaging FLC. As a result, the light is in the opposite state from normal, and the polarity reversed imaging FLC will now behave as normal. When the imaging FLC is not polarity reversed, the compensating FLC is turned off, the polarization of the light is not changed, and the imaging FLC operates normally. The compensating and imaging FLCs thus both maintain DC balance, and yet the reversed state of the imaging FLC does not produce a superimposed negative period.

[0007] While this solves the problem for transmissive mode FLC operation, it does not solve the problem for reflective mode FLC operation. In reflective mode operation, the FLC is a ¼-wave plate and light passes through the FLC to a mirror and returns back through the FLC, resulting in a total ½-wave retardation. However, if a ½-wave plate compensating FLC is used, the result of the compensating FLC is zero or full-wave retardation. Full-wave retardation produces the same result as if there were no compensating FLC at all, so that any light is still a negative. So a solution is needed to recover the efficiency in the reflective mode use of an FLC.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] In one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided which includes a wave plate having wave plate states, wherein the wave plate propagates light with a resulting polarization dependent on which of the wave plate states the wave plate is in. The apparatus further includes an imager having imager states, wherein the imager propagates the light from and to the wave plate with a resulting other polarization dependent on which of the imager states the imager is in, the imager imparting information on the light.

[0009] In another aspect of the present invention, a method of compensating in an optical system is provided. The method includes: (1) providing polarized light; (2) retarding the polarized light; (3) imparting information on the retarded polarized light; (4) reflecting the retarded polarized light; and (5) further retarding the reflected and retarded polarized light.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:

[0011]FIGS. 1A and 1B are illustrations of prior art uncompensated, transmissive mode FLC operation;

[0012]FIGS. 2A and 2B are illustrations of prior art uncompensated, reflective mode FLC operation;

[0013]FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are illustrations of prior art compensated, transmissive mode FLC operation; and

[0014]FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D are illustrations of properly compensated, reflective mode FLC operation.

[0015] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

[0017] Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, prior art transmissive mode FLC or bipolar operation is shown. Light 98 passes through a first polarizer 102 to a λ/2 FLC or bipolar imager 100, and then to a second polarizer 104, which is 90 degrees rotated from the first polarizer 102. In this description and the drawings, a single cell of the imager is shown, but it is understood that each imager may include a full matrix of individuals cells, each behaving as illustrated. In FIG. 1A, the imager 100 is “on” (rotate) so that the polarization of the light 98 is rotated 90 degrees and the light 98 then passes through the second polarizer 104. The polarization axis (director) of the imager 100 must be 45° with respect to the transmission axis of the polarizer 104. In FIG. 1B, the imager 100 is “off” (non-rotate), so that the polarization of the light 98 is not rotated. The light 98, therefore, does not pass through the second polarizer 104. As noted in the background, when the drive polarity of the imager 100 is inverted for DC balance reasons, the imager 100 changes states from on to off or off to on, so that the DC balance operation causes approximately one-half of the light to be lost for any given cell.

[0018]FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate known reflective mode operation of an FLC or bipolar imager. The incoming light 116 impinges on a reflective polarizer 114, such as double brightness enhancement film (DBEF) available from 3M Company. The light 116 is reflected to a λ/4 FLC or bipolar imager 110. The director of the λ/4 FLC 110 is oriented 45° with respect to the incoming light 116 polarization. Located behind the imager 110 is a mirror 112 to reflect any light transmitted by the imager 110. After passing through the imager 110 a second time, the reflected light 118 encounters the reflective polarizer 114 a second time. In FIG. 2A, the imager 110 is off, so the light 116 does not have its polarization rotated. The reflected light 118, therefore, also reflects from the reflective polarizer 114. In FIG. 2B, however, the imager 110 is on, and the polarization of the light 116 is rotated by 90 degrees after passing through the λ/4 imager 110 twice. The reflected light 118 then passes through the reflective polarizer 114. Again, DC balancing will result in approximately one-half of the light being lost, as in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

[0019]FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D illustrate a known way to solve for the optical efficiency loss problem in transmissive mode FLC operation. A λ/2 FLC compensator 106 is placed in series with the imager 100. In practice, the compensator 106 is a single cell, while the imager 100 may be a plurality of individual cells, as discussed above. The compensator 106 is shown as being after the imager 100 with respect to the incoming light 98, but could also be placed ahead of the imager 100 if desired. In operation, the compensator 106 is switched synchronously with the imager 100 for DC balance purposes. Thus, if the imager 100 is on and the compensator 106 is on, as in FIG. 3A, then when electrical state changes for DC balance purposes, both the imager 100 and the compensator 106 change to off, as shown in FIG. 3D. In both cases, the light 98 is not transmitted. Alternatively, if the imager 100 is off and the compensator 106 is on (FIG. 3B), both are switched to imager 100 on and compensator 106 off (FIG. 3C), with light still passing through the second polarizer 104. Thus, both DC balance electrical states operate properly, and the system has higher optical efficiency as both DC balance states are utilized. The compensator 106 effectively compensates for the negative polarity state of the imager 100 during DC balance conditions.

[0020] The λ/2 compensator 106 in FIGS. 3A-3D could not be used in reflective mode because a double pass through the FLC compensator 106 would provide a full-wave of retardation, thus producing no effect. FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D, however, illustrate a way to solve for the optical efficiency loss problem in reflective mode FLC operation, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In FIGS. 4A-4D, a λ/4 compensator 120 is instead used in series with the imager 110. While the compensator 120 is conceptually a λ/4 wave plate, a wave plate of any odd multiple of λ/4, for example, 3λ/4, 5λ/4, etc., may be satisfactory. If an odd multiple greater than λ/4 is used, the higher necessary drive voltage could be provided by an external transistor or switch, in contrast to the integrated transistors typically used in FLC imagers. Additionally, the compensator 120 is a single cell while the imager 110 may be a plurality of individual cells.

[0021] The four states of the reflective mode system are shown in FIGS. 4A-4D, with FIGS. 4A and 4D being complementary, and FIGS. 4B and 4C also being complementary, for DC balance purposes. In FIG. 4A, the imager 110 and the compensator 120 are both on (rotate). The incoming light 116 is reflected from the reflective polarizer 114 to the compensator 120, which changes the light to circular polarization. The director of the λ/4 compensator 120 must be oriented 45° with respect to the incoming light 116 (linear) polarization in order to achieve circularly polarized light. The light then passes through the imager 110, reflects from the mirror 112, and then travels back through the imager 110. The reflected light 118, which is still circularly polarized, then passes through the compensator 120 where it emerges in the same polarization state as the incoming light 116. Therefore, the light 118 is reflected by the reflective polarizer 114. When the electrical polarity of the imager 110 and the compensator 120 are inverted synchronously for DC balance reasons, operation is as shown in FIG. 4D. FIGS. 4B and 4C are similar, except that the light 118 passes through the reflective polarizer 114. The light 118 will pass through the reflective polarizer 114 because only one of the λ/4 elements (i.e., the compensator 120 in FIG. 4B or the imager 110 in FIG. 4C) is on while the other is off, and the reflective polarizer 114 passes light having the polarization of the reflected light 118 after the compensator 120 in such a circumstance. Thus, the use of the λ/4 FLC compensator 120 in conjunction with the λ/4 FLC imager 110 provides high optical efficiency for reflective mode operation.

[0022] In FIGS. 2A, 2B, 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D, it is to be understood that instead of using the beamsplitting polarizer 114, the light could be projected at the imager 110 and the mirror 112 at an oblique angle, with separate polarizers, as in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In that case, either a λ/4 compensator could be used if both the incoming and reflected light impinged on the λ/4 compensator, or a λ/2 compensator could be used if the λ/2 compensator were placed only in the incoming or the reflected light path.

[0023] The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a wave plate having wave plate states, wherein the wave plate propagates light with a resulting polarization dependent on which of the wave plate states the wave plate is in; and an imager having states, wherein the imager propagates the light from and to the wave plate with a resulting other polarization dependent on which of the imager states the imager is in, the imager imparting information on the light.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a reflector that reflects the light from and to the imager.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the reflector comprises a mirror.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate comprises an odd multiple quarter-wave plate.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imager comprises cells each having cell states, wherein the imager propagates the light with the resulting other polarization dependent on which of the cell states each of the cells is in.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein transitions occur between the imager states and transitions occur between the wave plate states.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate comprises a single cell.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imager comprises a liquid crystal.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the wave plate compensates for DC balancing of the liquid crystal.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imager states comprise liquid crystal states.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imager alternates between the imager states in response to DC balancing, and wherein the wave plate transitions between the wave plate states to compensate for the change in the imager states.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the wave plate transitions between the wave plate states and the imager transitions between imager states synchronously.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a polarizing reflector that reflects the light from and to the imager.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a polarizing beam splitter that reflects the light from and to the imager.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a reflector, wherein the wave plate is configured to transmit light to the imager and to receive light from the imager, and wherein the imager is configured to receive light from the wave plate and to transmit light to and from the reflector.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imager comprises a ferroelectric liquid crystal. 17 The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate comprises a ferroelectric liquid crystal.
 18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate in one of the wave plate states retards the light by a total of approximately λ/2 in a double pass.
 19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imager retards in one of the imager states retards the light by a total of approximately λ/2 in a double pass.
 20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate comprises a compensator.
 21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wave plate comprises a one-quarter wave compensator configured to propagate the light to and from the imager.
 22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information comprises cell information.
 23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information comprises polarization information
 24. A method of compensating in an optical system comprising: providing polarized light; retarding the polarized light; imparting information on the retarded polarized light; reflecting the retarded polarized light; and further retarding the reflected and retarded polarized light.
 25. The method of claim 24 wherein providing polarized light comprises reflecting light off of a polarized reflector.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein further retarding forms an output light, the method further comprising transmitting the output light through a polarizing reflector.
 27. The method of claim 24, wherein retarding the polarized light comprises retarding by an odd multiple of one-quarter of the wavelength of the polarized light.
 28. The method of claim 24 wherein retarding and further retarding comprise retarding and further retarding within the same device.
 29. An apparatus comprising: a reflective mode imager having imager states, the imager retarding light transmitted by the imager depending on the state of the imager; a compensator having compensator states, the compensator configured to provide light to the imager and to receive light reflected through the imager, the compensator retarding light transmitted by the compensator depending on the state of the compensator; and a polarizer configured to receive light and to provide a portion of the received light to the compensator.
 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the polarizer is further configured to receive light from the compensator and to provide a portion of the light received from the compensator as output light depending on the state of the imager and on the state of the compensator.
 31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the polarizer comprises a reflecting polarizer.
 32. An apparatus comprising: an imager having a first imager state and a second imager state, the imager configured to: propagate light, rotate polarization of the light propagated by the imager when the imager is in the first imager state, and not rotate polarization of the light propagated by the imager when the imager is in the second imager state; and a compensator having a first compensator state and a second compensator state, the compensator configured to: propagate light to and from the imager, rotate polarization of the light propagated by the compensator when the compensator is in the first compensator state, and not rotate polarization of the light propagated by the compensator when the compensator is in the second compensator state.
 33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the apparatus further comprises modes, wherein the apparatus is in one mode when the imager and the compensator are one of both in their respective first states and both in their respective second states, and wherein the apparatus is in another mode when the imager and the compensator are one of not both in their respective first states and not both in their respective second states.
 34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the first imager state and the first compensator state comprise on states, and wherein the second imager state and the second compensator state comprise off states.
 35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the imager and the compensator make state transitions between their respective first and second states in synchrony.
 36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the compensator makes state transitions between its first and second states to compensate for DC balancing of the imager.
 37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the apparatus produces output light depending on which of the first and second imager states the imager is in and on which of the first and second compensator states the compensator is in.
 38. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein combinations of the first and second imager states and the first and second compensator states result in light output representative of exclusive-OR functionality.
 39. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein a complementary pair is formed for the imager and the compensator being switched between their respective first states and their respective second states.
 40. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein a complementary pair is formed for the imager being switched between the first imager state and the second imager state and the compensator being switched between the second compensator state and the first compensator state. 